2009--a retrospective would have been nice.

so today . . . is new year's eve--and i am about to write my last blog of 2009.

i had a plan. i thought i would write a top ten list of my favorite blogs from the last year. but i have written over 300 blogs! i'm not sure i could narrow my list of favorites down to 10. and really, if i was going to do that, i should have started a couple of weeks ago . . .

so, plan b. i would choose my favorite blog from each month. of course this was going to require me to read all 300 blogs, one month at a time, and choose just one to highlight. but it seemed doable. i would just pull up january's blogs, quickly skim them (because after all, i did write them--i shouldn't have to reread every word to remember what they are about,) choose one, and then move on to february. it seemed like a good plan. so i pulled up january's blogs and read them, and found something to like in each one of them. how could i choose just one?

ok, plan c. i would look at the topics i wrote about most and choose my favorites. so i would link my favorite weather blog, my favorite dog blog, my favorite blog about my family, my favorite school blog . . . yes, i thought that might work. but again, i couldn't choose just one.

on to plan d. i would not go back and read all the blogs. that was just not working, because when i would read them, i would think, "oh yeah, i liked that one," or "that was really funny!" so my new plan was to think about the blogs i could remember that i really liked and list them. but the first two that came to mind were the ones about the devil donuts and the police coming to the house last summer, and i had just linked those on recent blogs.

i was talking this over with rollie, and he said, "well, make sure you include cholesterol wars." i think that is HIS favorite. he will whip out his phone, look up that blog, and make people read it with very little provocation. usually they enjoy it, but still--i think he is a little too proud of that high five from his doctor!

so, here i am at 11:56 p.m. on december 31, 2009 with no retrospective. i just couldn't do it. i think almost all the blogs i have written are worth another read. in fact, when you are sitting at your computer with 20 minutes to kill, just pull up a month's worth of blogs and read them again. and then comment and let me know which ones you liked the best.

as for me, i think i have to say that the joshua blogs were my favorites last year. i am sure that in the coming year i will write blogs about the weather, my family, our dogs, my school kids, shoes, and food. but the joshua blogs kind of define 2009 for me. he made me laugh during some times when i didn't think laughter was possible. he lightened some heavy days with his wit and his smile. those blogs were unique--a slice of my history that will never be repeated in quite the same way. because there is only one joshua, and he will never again be five years old.